Alcohol bottles image by Jeff Tumale on unsplash.com

For a fee of $17,335, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) will accept applications for new liquor licenses.

ABC has authorized new on-sale and off-sale general licenses, allowing on-premises consumption of beer, wine and liquor as well as off-premises drinking.

The application period runs Sept. 11-22. Which counties will have licenses available, and how many, will not be known until closer to the filing period. The number of licenses will be based on statutory authorizations and limitations, according to an ABC news release.

During the same period, priority applications will also be accepted for the intercounty transfer of on-sale general and off-sale general licenses, as authorized by the ABC.

Only one priority application will be accepted from any one applicant per county for each type of license. A fee of $17,335 is due when filing an application for a new original general license and a fee of $6,570 is due when filing a priority application for the intercounty transfer of a general license. Only a certified check, cashier’s check or money order will be accepted for payment of the application fee, which should be made payable to Alcoholic Beverage Control.

If the number of applicants within a county for a particular type of license/transaction is equal to or less than the number of licenses available, all applicants will be notified that they have 90 days to complete a formal application for their specific premises.   

If the department receives more applications than there are licenses available, a public drawing will be held, scheduled the week of Oct. 23.  To participate in such a drawing, an applicant must have been a resident of California for at least 90 days prior to the date of the scheduled drawing. Successful drawing participants will be notified that they have 90 days to complete a formal application for their specific premises.

Unsuccessful drawing participants will be automatically refunded their application fee (minus a $100 service charge) within 90-120 days of the priority drawing but will retain their priority ranking until a new priority list is established in 2023.

If an applicant owes money to California taxing agencies, a claim against the priority application fee may be made by the taxing agency. If such a claim is made, the amount owed will be deducted from the priority application fee at the time of refund and remitted to the taxing agency.